Abstract

The generality and the specificity of the development of conceptual organization were investigated between Korean and Japanese children. In experiment 1, four- and 7-year-old children were presented a modified matching-to-sample task, in which one of three classification basis(thematic, categorical, and color) was demanded by task. Generally, younger children performed easily in thematic basis condition, and older children in comparison to younger children had flexibility in utilization of three kind of conceptual organization in both cultures. The difference between two cultures was that Korean younger children had more scores in thematic basis condition than in categorical basis condition, but Japanese younger children had similar scores between thematic and categorical basis condition. In experiment 2, free verbal responses were investigated by thematic basis and categorical basis condition in 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds. Correct response in thematic basis condition became low generally in three ages in both cultures. Korean children showed dominance in thematic basis condition in comparison to Japanese children. The results of dominance in thematic basis condition in Korean children were consistent with the result of a previous cross-cultural study of Korean and Japanese children in which free world association was used. Korean children were interpreted as situation-oriented or context-oriented.